Not How I Planned It
by MeggyMooTaterTot
Summary: When Peg is given the chance of a lifetime, she finds that she is in for more than she thought. After falling into a volcanic pool at lunar midnight, meeting strange new friends, and having the adventure of her life, she must return home to face problems she never expected. STORY IS BETTER THAN SUMMARY. Disclaimer: I don't own H2O or its characters, only this plot and my OC's.
1. A Surprise Gift

**Hellooo! MeggyMooTaterTot here with a new story! While this is not my first story to publish, the other one only has one chapter and I don't plan on continuing it any time soon. I first off want to thank you for taking the time to read this story, it means so much to me.**

 **I want to warn you guys, I'm probably not going to be the kind of person who updates every day, but I will try to update about once a week.**

 **Uh, what else? Oh yeah! If you find any spelling, grammar, you-name-it mistakes in any of my writing, feel free to tell me about it. I always love to get constructive criticism, as it makes the writing better. No hating, though, please! But I definitely won't mind if you want to help me make my story better.**

 **Now, without further ado, the story.**

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Peg POV

"And don't forget your final is next Tuesday! That's only six days from now! Remember to study!" my seventh-hour teacher called as the bell to end the day rang and students started dashing out the door.

I slowly stood and pulled my backpack up to set it on my chair. I always preferred to pack up my things in the classroom, rather than in the commotion of the hallway. My teacher, Mr. Parker, was just settling back down into his chair. He was my favorite teacher of the day, and he taught my favorite subject: math. Plus, he always knew how to make me smile.

"So, Peggy, got any plans for your Winter Break?" he asked, reaching for his mug of tea. My real name is Margaret, but I prefer Peg, and my friends call me Peggy. Just goes to show that I'm a nerd.

"Nothing new since yesterday," I chuckled back. Mr. Parker has asked me the same question since the beginning of December. It was sort of an inside joke between us now. "Nope, we're just gonna sit around the Christmas tree and watch Holiday Inn all two weeks of break." The two of us would always talk after class as I was packing up. Sometimes I would run errands for him if he needed it. People liked to tease me about being the teacher's pet, but I thought of myself more as his friend, or his companion.

"Alright then. Hey, you'd better get going, hadn't you? You've been in here for nearly five minutes." I checked the clock. He was right; I needed to get going.

"Oh! Yes! I'll see you tomorrow Mr. Parker, say hi to Fiana for me!" I called as I bustled out the door and down the hallway toward the busses (Fiana was Mr. Parker's dog; he may have invited me over for dinner a time or two, and his dog may just love me. It's not creepy!).

* * *

Settling down in my window seat on the bus, I was once again grateful that the track season doesn't start until spring. Last year, it seemed that every day of track practice after school, I was wishing for my book so I could read. I am a total readaholic, and on my bus route last year, I was like the second-to-last person off. Thus, I became accustomed to reading for about fifteen minutes every day right after school, and I was suffering from deprivation. With track going on, I didn't get to read for an extra two hours every day. Don't believe my suffering was real? Ask my guyfriends, they can tell you otherwise; they were there (I don't have boyfriends, I have guyfriends. I'm not allowed to have a boyfriend for over another year, until I'm sixteen.).

All this ran through my brain in the time it took me to open to my bookmarked page in my copy of The Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. Yeah, I'm a complete Potterhead here. No regrets. Settling down further, I began to read.

Twenty minutes later, my eyes snapped up as I noticed the bus was a block from my house. I sat up, shouldered my backpack, and readied myself to depart from the bus. As I stepped down the stairs by the door, I said cheerily, "Bye, have a good evening," as I do every day. It's almost a reflex now.

I quickly crossed the front yard on the pathway and approached the front door as the bus pulled away down the road. Turning the handle, I swung the door open to be met by my eager dog, Buckles, who always loved it when I came home. I flung my backpack next to the banister rail in the entryway and called, "Hello? I'm home." No reply.

Then I remembered: My two older sisters were at college and only visited a couple times a week, my dad was out of town on a business trip and wouldn't be back 'till tonight, my mom had said this morning that she had to work late, and my younger sister was still at school. I grinned; I had the house to myself for about half an hour.

Now, I'm not the kind of kid who would find themselves home alone and decide to browse YouTube, or eat a ton of junk food, or anything immature like that. No, I just like the quiet house for the peace and tranquility. I'm used to being home alone for a few hours a week, so this was nothing new to me. I decided to get a start on my homework while I could still do so in the quiet.

* * *

Dinner that evening was a noisy affair. My dad had just arrived home from his trip (I think it was to Louisiana this time?) and my older sisters, Jen and Stace, were back home at the same time, a rare occasion as they both have different work schedules. As soon as dinner was served and my father spoke a prayer over the meal, we tucked in. Tonight was chicken night, with biscuits, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. Yum!

After my dad began with the traditional, "Mmm, mmm, mmm!" as he ALWAYS does at EVERY MEAL as soon at the food touched his lips, dinner conversation began. It was the usual chatter, stories from college, punny jokes, and random things Stace's boyfriend, Ben, sends her. As we were finishing up the last of our food, my dad cleared his throat loudly.

"I . . . I have an announcement to make." All eyes turned to him with rapt attention. I spared a quick glance around at my family. From the looks on their faces, they were just as clueless as I was. Except for my mom; she had a smirk on her face and a glint in her eye. "Well, this morning my boss announced to all of us gift planners that we have earned a vacation." Gasps of wonder and cheer were heard all around the table.

"Well," my father continued, "he told us that we are getting a free round trip to anywhere of our choice, saying that he doesn't appreciate us enough and we deserve a break. And . . . we get to bring our entire families!" The chorus of cheers grew louder as we realized what this meant.

"We are going on a free vacation?"

"I can't believe this!"

"Where are we going?" My one quiet, simple question silenced the table.

My dad glanced across the table at my mom. "Er, your mother and I talked it over on the phone as I was on the plane home, and we have decided that you guys deserve a real break," he gestured at my three sisters and I. "So, we decided: how about we go on a trip to a foreign country? The gold coast in Australia, to be exact." Even though our squeals could not get any louder without breaking the rules of science, they did. My dad covered his ears. "Alright, alright, quiet down!"

"When are we leaving?" my sister, Stace, asked.

The reply was, "This Saturday. We're going to be gone for a month. So, you little ones," he pointed to my little sister, Sophia, and I, "are going to have to miss the last week of this semester and the first week of next semester. That means plan to take your finals tomorrow and Friday, because we leave the day after."

I inwardly groaned at this. I had to take all my finals in two days. This especially sucked because all of the core classes I decided to take were the advanced courses. The tests were sure to be hard. "Well in that case, I'd better get studying," I said as I leapt up from my seat and hurried back to my bedroom.

The rest of the night was spent in that manner, me holed up in my room studying for my early exams. By nightfall, I was exhausted – like, I-was-dead-asleep-within-five-minutes-of-lying-down exhausted. Little did I know that I forgot to set my alarm for the morning.

* * *

 **So, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Yes, I know things are slow right now, but they are sure to get going soon! Just stick with me. Remember, reviewing gives me a reason to continue writing, because it shows that people out there read and appreciate my story. So, please be sure to review! See ya later!**

 **-Moo**


	2. Important Information

**Hey, guys, I'm back. Sorry for not posting for a few weeks, but this story is still starting out and I'm still struggling to write the slow boring beginning parts. *sigh* End of year testing also just started up *double sigh* so I will still try to upload at a somewhat-constant pace.**

 **Yeah, I keep finding myself wanting to write some of the AWESOME scenes that happen later on, but don't worry, that only means that the story later will be even better! So, here's the second chapter, I hope you like it.**

* * *

"Hey, wake up!"

This was the first thing I heard in the morning as Sophia tried to get me out of bed by flicking water on my face. You know, when you get your hand wet and then you flick your fingers at someone? If you don't know, try it, it's really fun. Well, it's really fun to do to someone else, not to be the recipient of it at six-thirty in the morning. Uh, yeah. Not fun.

So, anyways, it was to this unpleasant sensation that I awoke that Thursday morning, with only fifteen minutes to get ready to go to school. That shouldn't be so bad for a girl like me, as I never wear makeup and hardly ever put my hair up, but still, it was fifteen minutes to get ready for school. Jumping out of bed, I proceeded to scurry around the room, grabbing my backpack, socks, clothes, and anything else I would need for school, all the while practically screaming, "Why didn't you wake me sooner?!"

Soph simply shrugged and continued on her leisurely way to pack up her backpack. I groaned as I watched her grab her pencil bag, moving at an agonizingly slow snail's pace. "Can you maybe, oh, I don't know, hurry up!" I asked, beyond annoyed at my sister for her passive cruelness. "I still need to change, you know!"

At my tone, Sophie realized I actually was angry, so she rushed to pick up the rest of her things. "Now out!" I said as I pushed her the remaining two feet out of our shared bedroom and slammed the door in her face

Sighing, I turned to my closet to find a shirt to wear for today as I began my daily morning routine to prepare for school.

* * *

Arriving at school, the first thing I thought to do was report straight to my best friends Thalia and Jake about my news. I rushed through the main hall to my first period, which was conveniently the same first period as both Thal and Jake. Just as the one-minute bell rang, I slid into my seat and hung my backpack over the back of my chair.

"Guys, you're never gonna believe what just happened last night," I whispered to the pair of them, leaning over the gap between desk rows. Both turned to me. "My dad told us – at dinner – that we are going on a family vacation this Christmas to . . . Australia!" Their eyes widened so far I could see the whites of their eyes on all sides of the iris, and their jaws dropped. "Uh, yeah, my thoughts exactly. Thing is, we're leaving on Saturday, so I need to take all of my finals today and tomorrow. Yeah, ugh."

"You're joking," Jake said.

"Nope. So, I'll see you both in about," I checked the clock, "thirty hours when my tests are all done. I say once again, ugh."

With that began the two days of constant testing and studying that was my life for thirty hours. I visibly sagged in exhaustion on the bus ride home, beyond relief at the half-an-hour that was my free time before it was back to studying. I could not wait until this was done.

I jerked up from my seat at my stop, and trudged across the yard in my desperation for a few more minutes of peace before the studying recommenced. However, when I entered the front door, I found my family sitting around on the furniture in the living room – minus my little sister, who was still in school.

"Hey, Peg, could you come sit for a little bit, we need to talk to you," my dad told me, to which I mumbled a reply about setting my backpack in my room before coming back out to the great room.

"Sooo, is this some kind of intervention or something, because I am not giving up on my books – or my fandoms!" I started defensively.

My dad just held his hands up in front of him in a 'calm down there' manner and stated, "Oh, no, that would be awful, imagine what you would do to us if we did." That received a smirk from me. "No, the reason we're here is to talk with you about our vacation. You left the table before we could discuss it, and you missed a few things."

"Oh," I stated simply and sat down on the ottoman for the chair.

"Honey," my mom said, "we're not all going to be able to go on the trip. Only you, your father, and Jennifer are going to be able to go."

"What?"

"Yeah, Ben and I already have Christmas plans with his family," Stace informed. "We're leaving next week and we're going up there to his dad's house for a couple of weeks." That made sense. They were always doing everything together.

"What about Sophia?" I asked. "And you?"

This time my mom replied. "After we went to Disneyland six years ago, your sister has vowed to never ride another plane in her life unless her life depended on it." Of course, Soph hated planes, she was afraid of heights too. "We decided that Sophia and I will be taking a road trip down to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas. I know, this will be the first time that our family is separated during Christmas, but we can video chat and keep in touch."

Even though I was slightly ashamed of my unspoken opinion, I wasn't lying to myself when I felt slightly glad that my little sister was not going to go on this vacation with us. Even though she's recently gotten a little better, she could still be a jerk sometimes. I am not kidding when I say that I am ninety-five percent sure that she consciously tries to annoy me at least twice a day. No joke! So I felt a little happy that she wouldn't get to bother me for a whole month. It would be a nice break from the usual.

"Okay, thanks for telling me. I do hope that you two have fun this month. Now, I really don't want to, but I should really hit the books." I retreated down the hallway to my study cave.

* * *

 **Sorry! I know that that chapter kind of sucked. I have trouble writing on the fly, and I literally just came up with that last scene in order to upload this chapter before another three weeks passed. I will try to do better in the future.**

 **Please, if you have any comments, questions, constructive criticism, noticed something wrong with this chapter, or anything else, please please please feel free to review. They show me that people are out there and that they care about this story. Even flames tell me that someone cared enough to write a review, even if it was a mean one. Plus, reviews give me motivation to write more, therefore causing the chapters to be uploaded faster so you can read more. So please, R &R! Bye!**

 **-Moo**


	3. On Our Way

**Sorry! I am sooo sorry for not uploading until now! I had tests and projects and – well, let's just say that I fell into the awful hole of writer's block and it took a while to get out. But I'm out now!**

 **HUGE shout out to katmar1994 for giving me my first review! You really picked me up out of the dumps there and offered me a rope out of that hole. THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

 **I'm so excited because we only have one and a half more days of school. 750 more minutes of grade school, and then I'm on my way to ninth grade! I also just had my 8th Grade dance, and it was like a middle school prom. It was one of the most fun experiences of this semester, but the guy my friends tried to get me to go with – August – never showed up, so my other friend Allison was my 'date'. (The OC's in my story are based off of real life people, but I will just use their fake character names in order to protect their identity.)**

 **Since summer is coming up, I'll try to update more often, but I am making no promises that I won't hit another pit of w's b.**

 **Also, I am kind of looking for a beta, so if anyone wants the position, you can PM me.**

 **Here's where the story is finally going to seriously start up, so I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Friday that day passed in a blur of color and sounds. I had been testing for a full two days, and may I just be the first to say, it was exhausting. Before I knew it, I was wishing my farewells to all of my friends with hugs to each. They had all gathered – Jake, Thalia, Allison, Skai, and August. I sometimes liked to call Skai and Aug Blue Hair and Blue Jacket, because Skai had bright Royal Blue hair and August was always wearing his blue zip-up hoodie.

"Okay, so don't be worried when I don't show up next week."

"We know already," came Jake's slightly annoyed, but also amused reply. I turned to Thalia and Allison. These two were some of my closest friends. I had known Thal since third grade when we were in the same class for the first time. She had a short pixie-cut of blonde hair which she sometimes highlighted, and pale, cold skin. Allison, or sometimes known as Alli, I had known for only a year and a half. She also had super short hair, about four to six inches long. We had grown to become best friends since I met her, and now we were basically inseparable.

"Bye, guys. I'll miss you."

Allison laughed. She was always able to make everyone laugh and smile, but she said that that was my skill. "Hey, it's only a month. You'll be back before you know it." I gave her a sad smile. Together the five of us except August – he was a car rider – turned to the doors leading outside to the busses. The rain was pouring. We raced to each of our respective busses, calling final goodbyes to each other as we went.

I couldn't believe how much it was raining outside. In the half minute it took me to dash to my bus my hair was drenched. I guess that's life in Missouri for you. Some people joke that it's life in Misery because of the awful weather all the time.

By the time I arrived home the downfall was slowly letting up, but it was still coming down pretty hard. I made yet another mad dash through the pelting rain and slammed the door behind me. Kicking off my shoes, I made my way down the hallway to deposit my backpack. Now, now I get to finally relax.

I sighed in relief as my body sagged into the chair. I twisted around to get comfortable as I placed my Kindle Touch ™ on the large armrest and began to read. I hadn't received the privilege of free reading for almost two days now and I was itching for a good session. I unknowingly sighed again in contentment at the simple joy of having words in front of my nose – story words, not studying-testing-textbook words.

* * *

I was roused from my peaceful relaxation when Sophia arrived home. The front door swung forward as she unnecessarily announced her arrival.

"I'm home!" she called, punctuated by the door hitting the doorstop forcefully as the school bus rumbled away.

Groaning, I glanced up. I wasn't even halfway through the first chapter. Couldn't she have at least given me more me-time?

"You do realize that you don't have to yell that every time you come in the door, right?"

"And you realize that you still need to pack, right?" she shot back. "You're leaving in, like, twelve hours."

I jumped up out of my seat. "Ohmygoodnessyou'reright." I raced back to our shared bedroom to pack my red roller board suitcase. Time for – you guessed it! More work. Ugh.

* * *

That night was awful. I spent a full hour-and-a-half trying to pack everything I would need. Then it was a large farewell dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, and brocolli at six-thirty, and, being Friday, it was my day to wash the dishes. The kitchen chores alternated between Soph and I, with our parents responsible for Wednesday.

With a groan of displeasure I got to work washing the chicken pan first. Tonight was going to be a long night.

* * *

By the time I was finally scrubbing down the last section of counter space, it was, like, seven-fifteen. And so I read a book, or maybe two or three. Just kidding, I collapsed on the couch in a blob and joined my parents in watching HGTV.

After a hot shower, I retired to bed for the night, setting my alarm clock for two in the morning. I would only get about three hours of sleep tonight.

* * *

I awoke dark and early to my blaring alarm. For a second I thought it was only another school day. Then I remembered: I'm going to Australia today. Immediately perking up, I quickly scaled down the ladder to my loft bed and tiptoed out of the room, grabbing my clothes in the meantime. I was ecstatic. I had never been out of the country before, and who knew when I would ever get to again.

Pretty soon Jennifer (my other older sister), my dad, and I were on our way to the Kansas City airport, making our way ever closer to the end destination. Airport Security was a breeze, not many people really wanted to go on a flight at four in the morning. It still wasn't dawn yet. We had a half hour wait before we boarded our plane, and then we were on our way.

Look out, Australia, here we come.

* * *

 **I'm going to start doing a competition. Whoever can catch the movie, TV, or book reverence in the chapter and can guess it in the comments first gets a shout out. We're starting with this chapter. Here's how to guess, and I won't take any other types of guesses:**

"Reference from in my chapter" - Place where the reference is from **(If in a series, write the exact book/movie/episode it is from)**

 **I will start out pretty easy, but it should get harder as we go along.**

 **R &R!**


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